Infected with invective
The uproar over Ann Coulter’s new book, especially the part criticizing the 9/11 widows identified as the “Jersey Girls”, is certainly driving sales of the book. I’m sure Ann is overjoyed.
I’m not so happy, though. Ann is often right on issues, but horribly wrong on presentation. Not that there’s not a time and place for a little sarcasm and satire. Political discourse is now filled with Coulter-like invective, from the irrational screaming of Al Franken to radio shock-jock Michael Savage. It seems like the New York bully has taken over the political scene, with coarseness exceeded only by the likes of Howard Stern. Conservatives are supposed to be for the perservation of polite society.
Besides, I think it poisons the well.
Even folks who purport to hold up rational discourse, like Sean Hannity and Alan Combs, seem to be infected with invective. Regularly, their TV show on FOX News Channel …
… is filled with more heat than light. It would be nice to actually hear a complete sentence from a guest without someone else yelling over them. And the questions … please, folks, limit your questions to actual inquiries, not statements. We see you every night, and we’d like to hear what the guest thinks … not hear a ponderous, 2 minute question that presents a position rather than elicits a response.
The problem now is that those of us who are not infected with invective or suffering from addiction to agitation can not argue against the partisan political stance of the Jersey Girls. It might be apropos to point out that they are partisan, but with the sensitivity riding high after Coulter’s statements about them, they are effectively off-limits.
One of Coulter’s books was named Treason, and decried certain liberal policies as treasonous. Ann has given the opponents of conservatism “aid and comfort” by providing enough ammo for a season or two as they object to her outrages. She has, in a way, become a traitor to the conservative cause.
James Carville was only mildly criticised for describing a woman bringing sexual harassment charges as being “white trash”, and we rightly derided the main stream media for its hypocrisy in not taking him to task. We need to isolate ourselves from the likes of Ann Coulture to avoid charges of hypocrisy ourselves.
